Directions

Cover the beans with a few inches of water and soak overnight. Alternately, you can bring them to a boil for one minute, then turn off the heat and let them sit for an hour.

Rinse the soaking liquid off. You don't have to, but I read it reduces gas, and who am I to take chances?.

Saute the sausage and onion over medium-low heat until the onion is translucent. Maybe 5 minutes. If you have extra grease, drain it off. You might not. Actually, just leave the grease inches A little pork fat never killed anyone.

Add sausage & onion to the pot, and add water to cover the beans.

Add bay leaves.

Bring to a boil and then turn the heat to low, so they are just simmering.

Cook until the beans are soft. Could be an hour and a half, could be 3 hours. I've never been able to adequately predict this. More cooking never hurts, though. Stir every now and then to make sure they are not sticking to the bottom (if they are, turn the heat down!) and add water if needed. If you use a crockpot, it takes about 8 hours or so.

Salt to taste. A good teaspoon or so, I think. But be careful -- you can always add more salt, but it's hard to take it away.

Cook the rice according to package instructions.

If you want the beans thicker you can either: a) take a cup or so out, mash 'em up good, stir back inches Or b) stir a tablespoon of cornstarch into a quarter cup of cool water to dissolve it, and then stir this into the beans, and cook another 5 minutes or so.

Serve over the rice, and pass the pepper sauce around.

Reviews

Most Helpful

Red Beans and Rice

55

This was super! I did do some subbing: we had left-over Easter ham, so I used that instead of the kielbasa (I have plenty of that in the freezer for the next time!!). Also, I used a can of red beans instead of using dried beans. Based on the other reviewer's comment about needing to be spiced up a bit, I added about 1/4 cup of chopped poblano to the onion and I included garlic salt with the pepper. made for Spring 2014 PAC

My DH loves red beans and rice. This was a good recipe; however, I think it needs a little more seasoning other than S & P. Will try this dish again and work on the seasonings a bit. This would be a good slow cooker recipe. Made for Spring PAC, April, 2012.